Sylvan Lake - 2019/2020 Report

[LKP.80cal]

Didn't get a chance to go out opening week/weekend, was on call and work was stupid busy. I like to fish Norglenwold as well, hoping to get out this weekend. We have a few jaw jackers with jigging bases, will give them a try with some w/w's I picked up from Wireworm King fly shop out of Red Deer. Also excited to get a chance to try out the new Milwaukee fuel with clam plate and strikemaster lazer lite flite that my wifey let me purchase this past week.

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by LKP.80cal

Didn't get a chance to go out opening week/weekend, was on call and work was stupid busy. I like to fish Norglenwold as well, hoping to get out this weekend. We have a few jaw jackers with jigging bases, will give them a try with some w/w's I picked up from Wireworm King fly shop out of Red Deer. Also excited to get a chance to try out the new Milwaukee fuel with clam plate and strikemaster lazer lite flite that my wifey let me purchase this past week.

The weekends will be crazy out here for the next month. Fortunately, the weather is going to cooperate and that will help the fishin. Scott, has the same set up it's the way to go, good investment.

Wish you all the success.

Cheers

D.

[Zip-in-Z]

Dec 18 … Bty warm day, stable weather = active fish. Very few people out, seen lots Whites all morning got set up about 7:45 am got my first White at 8:05 on an Yellow/Orange Candy Cane & should of limited out by 1:00 pm, but lost a nice one in the hole, got the last one just after 2:00. Moved 3 times kept going further out & deeper (12-13 FOW), that’s where they were hiding. The other day I had a few go after my orange/brown W/W, I made a new one last night and added an orange glass bead, it was the hot W/W pattern today, got 3 Walleye & 3 Whites on it, nice!

Fishin Tip: Today, I went back to only tying 1 W/W per rod & downsized the hook to a Daiichi #1530 size 10, the finesse technique worked, I believe the Whites were confused the other day by going after the bottom or the top then turning and swiping the other one or missing both. Also, I slowed down the twitching, when I seen a White approaching my W/W I stopped and held the W/W steady and they came in & they didn't inhale it but sucked at it and I was luck to get a few good hook sets. After I made these adjustments, I started to hook up with more Whites & Walleye, too. Give it a try if they come in and turn hard like they were frightened by your W/W, stop twitching & hold steady!

About 2:00 pm I heard some honking & there was a lone Canada flying from West to East towards Red Deer, was surprised to 1 goose still hanging around. Some guys were out yesterday & left a bunch of pallets on the ice, they didn’t show up today, hope they come back & clean up their junk.


A few pic’s … enjoy.

David



Hot W/W Pattern today!










Bright Brass was the second choice today.




Lone Canada … look close to see it.




Today was the 18th when you coming back?




To clean up this Junk





Nice Bunch of Whites




My Largest this Season, on the Orange/Brown Wrap not bad for Sylvan

[pikeman06]

Looks like you gottem dialled in bud...you eat whitefish for breakfast lunch and dinner apparently! Lol. Thanks for sharing your pictures etc.

[SNAPFisher]

Nice work Zip! Congrats on the great day.

[Zip-in-Z]

Tks for the kind words, it was a great day, pleased you like the pic's.

D.

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Nice work Zip! Congrats on the great day.

Originally Posted by pikeman06

Looks like you gottem dialled in bud...you eat whitefish for breakfast lunch and dinner apparently! Lol. Thanks for sharing your pictures etc.

[Zip-in-Z]

Dec 19th … up & out early, Whites have been the most active in the shallows about 8:00 am & they didn’t disappoint today. It's still dark out but I got my first on the Yellow/Orange candy cane with a glow bead at 8:05 the second at 8:20 on a Brass W/W with gold bead, it was big, came straight up into the hole & into my bucket, then seen 1-2 more but they were cautious just looking or bumping but not taking it, there were fewer fish moving around than yesterday, still seeing one every 15-20 minutes, finally got my 3rd at 10:30 on the Brass pattern. Yesterday’s hot Orange twist didn’t attract one today. Didn’t see one Walleye but had a small Pike staring at the Orange twist after lunch. Had my camera down about 8 feet behind me, it didn’t bother the Whites & gave me the opportunity to pan my entire area, didn’t help, they disappeared. Move 3 times back into my holes from yesterday over deeper water, didn’t see any, frustrating. Two groups must have been just as frustrated and left at noon, I didn’t see another White until 2:40 pm & it wasn’t interested & kept on going out to the open lake. This morning was foggy with ice crystals then bright & sunny, perhaps the bright day had something to do with it & they all went into deeper water, too much snow to go hunting for them, I quit at 3:00 pm.

Never fished for Whites until we got our condo in Sylvan in 2005. Today got my P/B White, it measured out at just under 20”, used a string to measure the girth at 11 3/8”, it’s nice to see Sylvan can produce quantity but also quality and they’re getting bigger, too. Was surprised to see how healthy she was totally spawned out & lots of stored up fat & full of caddis larva grubs.

I mentioned this a couple of times, I have a fish allergy, can't eat any type of fish, Pike slime is the killer, all the fish I’ve caught over the past 7 days have been cleaned/filleted & given to friends, everyone enjoys a fresh fish dinner. Gave Scott 5 Whites for his smoker. The fillets from this one fish will make a nice meal for the Mrs, with a glass or two of chardonnay.

Tomorrow’s my last day fishin, hopefully it’s a productive one, my season is coming to an end, California dreaming!

A few pic’s …

Cheers

David



One Big One & Two Nice One's




My P/B White <20"




11 3/8” Girth




Brass with Gold Glass Bead #1530 - 10 Hook





Very Healthy Fish





Also Very Hungry Fish.









Nice Big Boneless Fillets

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Zip-in-Z

3blade ... looks like you got your answer, invest in a couple JawJackers a few w/W & some bait and head out this week, sun will be out with above 0 temps, no better place to enjoy a sandwich & thermos of coffee or tea with some flavored X-Mass cheer out on the ice.

D.

Yep thanks Zip and everyone, I’ll give it a shot sometime soon.

[SNAPFisher]

Yep, that is a Sylvan pig right there. Worthy on any lake. Congrats again Zip. Slower but sounded like a lot of fun to me.

A few Octobers ago, I caught one on Sylvan and thought I had two whites on each hook a had on the line. Just because the pull was so much more than usual. I saw it was one big white. Almost had it in the net and to the boat several times. I'm guessing pushing 4 lbs and over 20 inches. They are few but there!

[pikeman06]

Wow look at the fat in the guts of that old girl. Healthy is right.

[Zip-in-Z]

Tks once again fellas for the positive feedback, it's appreciated.

D.

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Yep, that is a Sylvan pig right there. Worthy on any lake. Congrats again Zip. Slower but sounded like a lot of fun to me.

A few Octobers ago, I caught one on Sylvan and thought I had two whites on each hook a had on the line. Just because the pull was so much more than usual. I saw it was one big white. Almost had it in the net and to the boat several times. I'm guessing pushing 4 lbs and over 20 inches. They are few but there!

Originally Posted by pikeman06

Wow look at the fat in the guts of that old girl. Healthy is right.

[Zip-in-Z]

Dec 20th …. Up extra early, on the ice at 7:30 set up in my hot spot in the shallows & ready for them just before 8:00 am, had my camera down about 6 feet behind me, couldn't believe it, didn’t see one until 9:10, it came & went, seen another at 9:30 wasn’t interested then nothing for 45 minutes, decided to move to where I got a few over deeper water. Seen one at 10:30 came in after the Brass W/W, got him, hoping there would be more but didn’t see another one until 11:45 it was in the distance on the camera going out to deeper water. Had lunch, didn’t see anymore & packed it in for the season at 1:00 pm. That was it 4 Whites all morning & didn’t see any Walleye or Pike. Perhaps the pending change of weather has something to do with it, forecast is for periods of snow tonight & tomorrow.

Got home & unpacked & burned the fuel out of my auger, took the plug out & put some oil down the cylinder, it’s put away until next season. Put the sled away, drying my tent out & cleaned up some of my gear.

Wish it would of been more productive, however, that’s fishin, had some good days & a few not so good days, my P/B White was an accomplishment & I have a new goal for next year. Trust you enjoyed the daily adventure as much as I did & hope some of the info, pic’s & fishin tips shared in my report will help & improve your success over the remainder of hard water season.

Were departing for Palm Springs in a week, gone for 3.5 months, need to work on my golf swing & game again. Wish all my A/O friends a very Merry-XMass & Happy N-Year.

Cheers

David

[kostianych]

Thanks Zip for the info

Anybody knows what is it circled in the picture? Seen this several times but could not confirm.
Thanks

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by kostianych

Thanks Zip for the info

Anybody knows what is it circled in the picture? Seen this several times but could not confirm.
Thanks

Perhaps someone here smarter than me will identify it.

I see you found it in the pic of my Dec 19th P/B White belly contents. My guess it's a small cyst or perhaps a parasite, I didn't notice it when I was cleaning the fish. Haven't really seen anything like that on other Sylvan Whites, will make a note of this for next year & see if any of the fish I catch have them/it.

Tks for pointing it out, hoping others here will have the answer.

D.

[kostianych]

I have seen this in many out of McGregor and Travers, buy never in Sylvan catch..... this is the first time I see it in Sylvan WF

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by kostianych

I have seen this in many out of McGregor and Travers, buy never in Sylvan catch..... this is the first time I see it in Sylvan WF

Reposed a full size pic ... so we can all see it again. It's looks shiny ? I'm not going to drag it out of the garbage, for a closer look.

Off to the Sylvan Legion for an event.

D.

[LKP.80cal]

Kinda looks like mercury?

[pikeman06]

Small liver fluke? I dunno but if you catch a wormy white you'll know it. Seen them in Marie lake with pencil sized holes in the meat full of green yuck. Turned me off whites for awhile. Have a great trip zip and thanks once again for all your excellent photos. Gave me something to look forward to during a long tough old grind at work in the bush. Merry xmas.✌

[kaleh01]

Originally Posted by 3blade

I know this is probably a silly question but: Is there any way at all to catch whites on a tip-up? Anything that would make them swallow a tiny treble hook and move off?

I get one hell of a tension headache staring down a hole, to the point that I’ve basically give up any ice fishing that requires it. As a result there has been a conspicuous lack of candied whitefish in my house. Gonna have to try the old smack the little kastmaster into the bottom routine soon I guess

I find whitefish camera shy but in shallow water all I do is use my camera but don’t drop it below the ice. Have it in down view and then fish upright with the screen placed wherever is comfortable for you. Works great, just need to be mindful and pull the camera before the fish gets to the hole.

[Hartly]

Out at Sunbreaker today in about 7.5 feet of water. Been her since sunrise. Haven t seen a white or any species of fish yet.

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by Hartly

Out at Sunbreaker today in about 7.5 feet of water. Been her since sunrise. Haven t seen a white or any species of fish yet.

Hope things improved for you, when we were out at Sunbreaker we headed West of the boat launch we did see some Whites with tail up on the camera when we were drilling test holes then after we got set up in 5-6 FOW we didn't see any Whites only a beige colored Burb. Once we moved down the drop to 12 - 13 FOW we started seeing Whites & Walleye. We found it hard to move around, the snow was powder & deep it was tough dragging all our gear/shacks around. If I had the chance I would go back and with downsized W/W's I believe you could do well moving shallow then deeper & back shallow in the late afternoon to evening out at Sunbreaker.

D.

[lenka]

December 24th-Fished Norglenwold from 9:00-111:30 from 4-12 feet of water but did not see a single white.

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by lenka

December 24th-Fished Norglenwold from 9:00-111:30 from 4-12 feet of water but did not see a single white.

Know that feeling .... we had a few tough days as well, fishin should improve with the change in the lunar cycle.

D.

[Zip-in-Z]

These pic's were posted by others on the Sylvan lake Facebook site, it happened on Dec 24th, in the Norglenwold area not far from the entrance to Marina Bay. Residents have said there is an underground spring in the location & ice conditions are variable, this fella found out the hard way. Be careful.

D.

[fish99]

Originally Posted by Zip-in-Z

These pic's were posted by others on the Sylvan lake Facebook site, it happened on Dec 24th, in the Norglenwold area not far from the entrance to Marina Bay. Residents have said there is an underground spring in the location & ice conditions are variable, this fella found out the hard way. Be careful.

D.

i hope they got out ok.

[35 whelen]

I just don't understand why people have to drive on the ice in December with their half ton trucks walk or take a quad

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[sns2]

Stupid knows no bounds

[Poppa]

Originally Posted by Hartly

Out at Sunbreaker today in about 7.5 feet of water. Been her since sunrise. Haven t seen a white or any species of fish yet.

How thick was the ice? Heading out there on Friday to catch the prime time supper bite...

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by Poppa

How thick was the ice? Heading out there on Friday to catch the prime time supper bite...

When we fished at the Lighthouse & Sunbreaker it was 10", this guy drove a bit to close to the Marina Bay entrance where residents say is a natural spring, so he was over maybe 4" ice. Going for a walk later this afternoon while the bird is baking to see if the truck is still there. I wouldn't be driving around on the lake.

Merry X-Mass ....


D.

[Poppa]

Originally Posted by Zip-in-Z

When we fished at the Lighthouse & Sunbreaker it was 10", this guy drove a bit to close to the Marina Bay entrance where residents say is a natural spring, so he was over maybe 4" ice. Going for a walk later this afternoon while the bird is baking to see if the truck is still there. I wouldn't be driving around on the lake.

Merry X-Mass ....


D.

Thanks Zip! We like fishing off that weed bed to the right of the boat launch at Sunbreaker... Not a far walk so no prob walking on with the gear on the sled.